Prisa cuts debt to its lowest level in 20 years

The Prisa Group continued to grow in 2024 in terms of cash generation and debt reduction, reaching its lowest level in 20 years, but it was unable to emerge from losses and recorded a negative result of 11.6 million euros at the end of the last financial year. Despite the good performance of its business, the company suffered the adverse impact of both the depreciation of three of the currencies in the geographies in which it operates (Brazil, Mexico and Chile) and the absence of extraordinary income achieved in Santillana Argentina in 2023.

EBITDA (gross operating profit) stood at €185.1 million, with an annual growth of 2.3%, which would have been 14% (an additional €21 million) without the negative effect of exchange rates. The EBITDA margin grew to 20.1%, exceeding the expectations previously communicated to the market , in a range of 19% to 20%. Net profit, meanwhile, grew by 64% year-on-year.

Liabilities were reduced by 9.9% in twelve months to €750.1 million compared to €832.3 million in 2023, reaching the lowest level in two decades compared to EBITDA: 3.97 times compared to 4.32 times on December 31, 2023. "The group remains focused on financial deleveraging," the company stressed in the presentation of its results, in which it highlighted the boost provided by the issue of convertible bonds for €100 million closed last April , after which €50 million of junior debt was repaid. This objective of reducing liabilities was also contributed to by the greater cash generation, with a liquidity position of €223 million at the end of the last financial year.

Strong subscription growth for El País and Santillana

By business unit, Prisa Media recorded revenues of 443.4 million euros, 2.7% more than in 2023, driven by the strong growth in revenues from El País digital subscriptions, which closed last year at 404,000 , with an increase of 53,000 customers in 2024, to account for 13% of the business unit's revenues (58 million euros). "This very positive evolution will allow the objectives set out in the strategic plan communicated to the market in 2022 to be met." Despite this strong boost, revenues from the circulation area are still far from advertising, which continues to represent 75% of revenues. The report emphasizes the good performance of advertising in the radio business, which grew by 5% overall and 7.4% in Spain. Prisa Media's gross operating profit (EBITDA) grew by 12.7% to €56.9 million, while the EBITDA margin stood at 12.8%, one percentage point higher than at the end of 2023.

Santillana's results in Latin America have been affected by the absence of two extraordinary effects that took place in 2023: extraordinary sales in Argentina and orders linked to the National Educational Book Program (PNLD) in Brazil . Thus, revenues fell by 9.4% to €467 million due to the aforementioned negative impacts and the depreciation of the Argentine peso against the euro (without this last effect, the fall moderates to 4.8%). Despite this, the education division closed with an EBITDA growth of 7.3% at a constant exchange rate to €144.6 million, thanks to cost control and the growth of subscription models. Specifically, the number of subscribers was close to 3 million, with an annual increase of 5%, which contributed revenues of €231 million, representing an increase of 12% at a constant exchange rate.